Street vendors, foodies enjoy cozy new location

It was around lunch time and Jl. Kampung Lima, a narrow road sandwiched between the business hubs of Jl. Thamrin and Jl. Sabang in Central Jakarta, was crowded with office workers looking for their favorite dishes.

Along the 500-meter-long road, 80 semi-permanent food stalls run by street vendors lined the street from end to end.

“I often have lunch here because it is convenient,” Asmawati, who is employed at a nearby hotel, said while ordering a plate of fried rice.

Herianto, the fried rice vendor, said he found it convenient and profitable to open his shop in the area.

Until recently, the 35-year-old man had been working as a mobile street vendor on Jl. Sabang since his early 20s, before he set up a permanent stall in the area in 2008 in compliance with a city administration relocation program aimed at moving mobile food vendors to fixed strategic locations around the city.

As a mobile street vendor, Herianto said that he had lived in constant fear of eviction by public order
officers.

“I also decided to sell my fried rice in this area because I have a strong attachment to this area, and now I know that it’s more profitable here,” he said.

Herianto said he could earn Rp 5 million to Rp 6 million a month, compared to Rp 4 million before he was relocated.

“I now employ two people as my assistants using the income,” he said.

Umam, a young vendor from Madura, said that he enjoyed doing business in the area.

“I don’t have to worry about public order officers cracking down on us,” he said.

Umam sells satay from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. during the week, earning about Rp 420,000 (US$ 48.30) per day. On average he sells 350 sticks of satay a day.

However, not every vendor enjoys the success of Herianto and Umam.

A vendor named Lukman Arifin said that competition was tight in the area and that he could only sell 35 pieces of fried chicken per day, or about half of what he had sold when he had worked as a mobile vendor.

“The business is still profitable but not as much as it used to be,” he said.

Lukman said his grandfather had started the business in 1977 and passed it on to his father.

Lukman took over the business in 2006, but was recently relocated to Jl. Kampung Lima.

The eating area where his stall is located is managed by private company PT. Sinar Pangan Abadijaya, which was contracted by the city government to relocate vendors to specific areas in the city.

PT. Sinar Pangan Abadijaya general manager Mochammad Noorsandy told The Jakarta Post that the company had signed a five-year contract to manage the area.

He said his company had started to develop the area in 2008 and opened it for business in August 2009.

The company charges each vendor Rp 20,000 per day. “The fee includes water, electricity, security and the cost of the infrastructure.”

Noorsandy said the relocation project had won support from several major companies.

“Many companies are reluctant to support projects from the city administration, especially when it comes to sponsorship money, that is why the city transferred the management of this area to us,” Noorsandy said. (rpt)